Building a Beauty Empire. From 0 to 180k profit in 8 month and beyond

[rsrs]

Brazil have one of the biggest beauty market in the world. If you manage to put foothold in here you can make a lot. But I imagine this is a very competitive market. There’s beauty clinics everywhere in my city.

Good luck!

 

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[Kokaka]

Brazil have one of the biggest beauty market in the world. If you manage to put foothold in here you can make a lot. But I imagine this is a very competitive market. There’s beauty clinics everywhere in my city.

Good luck!

Thanks.
Im currently in Brazil now and scouting the market. Lovely country with even better food and fantastic people.
Its correct that the market is big and competition is fierce. However, with my concept, I believe I can transform the entire beauty industry here if I do it correctly. As is, I can open the most advanced clinics in the country, while at the same time promote my brand of machines.
Now, I just have to learn how to export from the EU (my medtech consultant will help with this), but also the laws and regulation of constructing the clinics, with electricity, ventilation, plumbing, but also on hiring staff etc. Its good I have learnt almost fluent portuguese which can make all this possible

 

[Kokaka]

Currently in Sao Paulo in Brazil because my flight back to Europe got cancelled. Very cool city and glad I got to experience it because I passed most of my time in the center/north of Brazil.

I have noticed that this country just have so much potential for the business models I have.
In the EU, there are so many rules and regulations when building and structuring clinics, here there are way less and also alot cheaper.
I have gotten the Idea to build something here that dont exist yet. Because here, you can rent houses and make them very nice, I can offer more services and products, and because construction is cheap here, I can go wild with design and hire more staff.
Also there are alot more who uses machines here so hopefully I can crack the ANVISA customs who is difficult as hell and start to import here.

If I manage to sell a part of the machine company to the investor, my Idea is that I become the CEO of Brazil and he in EU. Then we can scale twice as fast. Helps I speak fluent portuguese.

For this year, I would really like to open 1-2 more clinics in EU and 1 clinic in Brazil, also expand the machine company to Brazil.
If I manage this, I should atleast double the turnover. The profit is quite nice however I just reinvest it because I dont have that many liabilities.

I believe I will get 450k for 49% of the machine company from the investor. 225k paid upfront and the rest during 3-4 years.
If I manage this, I will use is as following:
50k To open the Brazil Clinic
20k To open clinic nr 2 in Europe (will get a new bank loan with 10% personal liability to cover the rest)
70k as down payment for Real Estate in Ibiza in Spain. Prices are low now and I believe Post covid prices on the island will skyrocket.
85k for myself, maybe play around with stocks a little or open EU clinic nr 3?

Also found a small business here in Sao Paulo that makes fantastic consumables for one of the machines we have in the clinic. However because this business is small and local, I just bought a bunch of products and an extra suitcase to bring back to EU. Later will solve a way to import directly.

 

[Kokaka]

So its been a while and I thought its time for an update.

Clinic company:
Hired one more staff. Now has 3 regular + my partner. Everyone is still fully booked and we still have a 2 week waiting list.
All of the staff has been sick in Covid, had to close the clinic for a few days. And because everyone has children, if the staff is not sick, their children is sick and they have to be home to take care of them. This is a good lesson since in the future when we expand, we need a better mix of employees. If they are expierneced, they have children and will thus be away more from work. If they dont have children, they will generally be inexperienced but can work more. In the future, will take this into consideration when hiring staff.

Also increased most of our prices by 10%

The clinic we have now is way too small. We will solve this with one of 2 solutions. Create 2 small treatment-rooms out of 1 big treatment room. Got an offer from a private contractor to build 6 meter wall and he wanted 30k for it. Twice the price of what it will cost so I obviously declined. Will have another contractor come by today.

Option 2 is to move to a space 20 meters beside the current clinic. Then we will have a space twice as big. and I can have 8 employees. This is the option I want the most. Problem is it will cost alot. Will meet with the project manager tomorrow to go over everything. If it is inside the budget, I will use the current clinic as a showroom for my machine company. Its a nice place and we have invested alot in the place so I want to keep it.

I have also found the absolutly best local for clinic nr2 in a neighbouring city. Everything is perfect. Its an old sports bar wit alot of brick walls and we can make it just amasing. That place will be a crown jewel in this chain.
Problem is that the landlord want 100k as security. Thats a shitload of money and I can open 2 clinics with that money. Will need to see how we solve that. Still waiting for my first year of book keeping.

The investor that I has spoken with will also invest in the clinic company. I think he sees this business potential just as I do. Machine company will bring in alot of money but the scalability of the clinic company is A+ so he wants to be involved in this project aswell. For me, the more experienced I got, the more I understand I need help in order to scale at the pace I want. Sure, I give away a part of the company but I will be able to scale 3-6 times more rapidly if I get someone who has had hundreds of staff working for him, got good liquidity and understands economy for businesses with 100+ employees.

Machine company:
Sold one more machine but also alot of consumables. Have made about 40k profit this year. Everything will go to paying taxes.

Physical and Mental.

Finally got out of my runt. Been exercising 4-6 times/week since the beginning of the year. Lost 10lbs. Diet is spot on. Feeling good and feeling strong. Cook almost every day so alchohol consumption has been reduced by just a few drinks a month. Sleep is also spot on with me going to bed and waking up the same time every day.

 

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[rsrs]

What about Brazil? I was curious because in your last post you had a lot of plans in here.

 

[Kokaka]

What about Brazil? I was curious because in your last post you had a lot of plans in here.

Brazil is still hot. If I manage to get the deal signed. My goal is to open 1 clinic in Brazil this year and let it grow. By doing this I will resolve the issue and create systems of hiring staff, opening clinics, exporting/importing machines, service of machines etc. This will lay the foundation for further expansion im Brazil. Both for expanding clinics and selling machines.
Thats good because when I opend in the EU. I had 0 network. In Brazil, my network is fantastic so that till help alot.

 

[Kokaka]

Oh and if anyone is interested in how I prepare for business related meetings.
Tomorrow I will meet a project manager who will plan the project of expanding my current clinic to the space next door. It will be the first time I meet him. I am a strong believer of first impressions and later holding that impression so this is what I do every time I meet a manager, consultant, investor, broker, bank manager etc.

Separate suit, tie, pocket square, watch and tie bar.
Iron the shirt to perfection.
Hair cut
Beard groom
Extra skin groom
Wash the car (will meet the manager outside the local and there are parkings outside. I dont want to show up in a dirty car if he sees me)
Minimum 2 hours of shoe shine. (Therapy for me. Listening to podcasts, audiobooks during)
Good tutorial:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXGxPbBGbC4


By doing this and keeping it consistent, I have created a personal brand and an image. And when you arrive 10 out of 10 from a styling perspective people treat you like royalty and its just so easy to close deals, get good deals, get extra service etc. People will think you are super successfull and they want to be a part of that success and become your ally.
Suits are especially powerfull where I live because normal people do not wearing suits anymore, only politicians, lawyers, CEO's and other sucessfull people. That means people thing you are sucessfull too.
I wrote above about the power of a suit. Now I believe that even more and how it create an image and a personal brand which you market every time you meet another person. Because they will invest both in your business and in you.

 

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[Kokaka]

A new update on my endevour.

Machine company:
Made a few more sales. Have a turnover on about 120k on the company so far this year.
Have a few more sales pending aswell.
The service and maintinence system I build and invested in (60k) last year is coming in handy. A few clients has managed to destroy their own machine from lack of common sense, (like plugging in high electricity contacts half way in which leads to short circuit). But because of high profit margain I am offering a fantastic service deal where they can borrow a machine while my engineer fix theirs. I have to find a way to charge for this but at the moment they just pay shipping.

Clinic company:
Alot of things is finally starting to happening here.
We are trying to open 2 more at the same time but also expand the current clinic that we have. Then we will controll all the major cities in our state.
This will lead to an increase from 2 rooms to 12-15 rooms by the end of the year and increase the output 6-700%.
Made a 15k profit last month aswell on the clinic company. First time we have been fully staffed and operating 100% for one whole month. However now one of the girls who work there is on maternety leave and will be away untill next year. We have solved this by hireing 1 more staff and are looking for 1-2 more. Goal is to have 5 staff because now we are optimising our resources and try to be opend evenings and weekends aswell.

If we manage all this, the clinic company will make about 30-50k profit per month. That means the snowball is rolling and we make more money than we can spend by opening new clinics.
Goal is to open 2 more clinics this year and expand current clinic.
Next year open 4 more.

Partnership:
My new partnership is going great. It feels fantastic to have someone who is used to dealing with staff and economics. Because its impossible for me to handle the 20 staff that we are going to need with my current knowledge and experience. Will save about 3 years I belive from this partnership + an exponential growth.
Helps alot with both Controll and Scale from CENTS and its obvious it was the last piece of the pussle for hyper expansion of the business because we have already broken ENTRY and NEED. We figure out TIME as we go.

Lessons learned:
The more you grow, the more Controll you need. I have not have time/skill/knowledge to learn, understand and update my book keeping and it has gone to bite me in the a$$ a few times. Like me being afraid of going bankrupt, putting up ads to sell my car to one talk to my accountant who told be I have been paying doubble taxes for about 10 month and will get a huge return.
But I am finally catching up and have learnt the importance of controll, both for now and how it will matter when you Scale.

Overall:
Total turnover is about 1 milion in 15 month and I started from 0. If I manage all the things I have set forth to do. This year will lay the foundation for something crazy.

 

[Tiago]

Man I love this thread. Nothing but pure, intelligent action. Keep it up!

 

[Kokaka]

Man I love this thread. Nothing but pure, intelligent action. Keep it up!

Thanks.
When I was in the military, one of the branches had this motto.
"Inteligent, calculated, agression"
I think it applies well to business because alot if the time, you just have to analyse the situation, find the best strategy and go for it 100%.

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine company:
Made about 30k more in profit, among them from another sale to my first ever customer. I gave her super good service in January when her machine broke again. She has had problems since day one with this machine (Not my brand but one of the worlds most famous brands).
I decided to trade her machine in for one of mine (even tough her warrany had run out), loaded it in my car and drove across the country with it because she was fully booked for the whole week and could not wait any more for service and could not loose this amount of money again.
Turned out she was super happy with the trade and her new machine so she bought another one. Just shows how important good service is. The ROI is just insane.

Clinic company:
The current clinic is going too well. We are currently running our 2 treatment rooms with 4 staff which make it possible to be open from 08:00-21:00 six days a week (with some slight abbreviations). First bookable time now is in July so my girls are killing it! I have also increased the marketing to cover the whole state to prepare for clinic nr 2 and 3.

Feels good that I can finally relax and not have every single day be panic work filled with stress and anxiousness. Alot of it has to do with my partner who do everything I dont know how to do yet. I just focus on making more money. He makes sure everything runs like a business. Can finally breath after about a year.

So now we can also finally give back to our staff, and we have planned some events with food and drinks.
Money-wise, we make our best month ever now. We will have a turnover on 32k from our 2 rooms/month and has been stable at this level for the last 3 month.

We are also very close to sign the deal for the second clinic in the neighbouring city in which I have been working for over a year now to open. Got a very good deal on it. The landlord will pay for all the renovation and design in the place and also give us a discound the first year and just 80% of index increase on the rent. It wont be cheap. It will cost about 320k to fix it up but it will be one of the nicest clinics in europe, located at a AAA spot with a good rental contract in a city with high demand and little supply. If I cant get it to work, then clinic nr 1 is just an anomality and it would be best to kill the project and just focus on the machine company. However I think clinic nr2 will be more popular than clinic nr1.
If I get it to work like clinic nr1. We will have a turnover from our 5 rooms of about 80k/month with 40% profit margain. It can expand to 50% in the future when we grow so we can start to buy consumables in bulk and also make our own products for professional and private use through private lable.

We are also waiting for a response from a smaller city which we got a great deal to open clinic nr3 in which will also have 5 rooms.
Also waiting for a response to expand to another local in clinic nr1 city which will increase the rooms from 2 to 5.

Best case cenario is that we get all 3 and if we fill the rooms up like we have been doing for the last year in clinic nr1. We will have an anual turnover of around 2 million/year with high profit margain. However, as we all know, it usually is not that simple but it gives something to strive to. Would be cool if we manage because it will be the first step of building "a real company".

Other:
For me, the best thing that could have ever happend was to get this partner. Everyone always say dont sell a peice of your business. However, with the way things were, I was just over worked and on the verge of burnout, just by trying to maintain what I had. It made it even more complicated because I dont have any training, business degree or education. I just learn by doing and see what works. This meant everytime something came up, like one of the staff had to be home with her sick kid, apply for vacation, book keeping etc. I had to learn the damn thing, which just took up to much time and energy. It came to the point that it became so frustrating that I contemplated to kill the machine company, liquidate it and reinvest and just focus on the clinic company. However, now when all the "CEO - stuff" is coverd by my partner, I can focus on just expanding, building the brand and making more money. All the things I enjoy to do and am good at. It will also save me about 5 years in the process and we can expand at supersonic speed now.

So now, the plan is to prepare for clinic nr2 as much as possible for the next 2 weeks, also start to investigate the neighbouring state to open clinic nr 4, because it takes about 6-12 month from start to finish. After that, I go to Brazil for 6 weeks when my kid gets born. My partner, who is also a super great guy has told me to take a little time away, recharge and be with my family, because only god knows how much I need it. Then come back in the beginning of august and make the final preparations for the grand opening of clinic nr2 1'st of September.

 

[BizyDad]

Made about 30k more in profit, among them from another sale to my first ever customer. I gave her super good service in January when her machine broke again. She has had problems since day one with this machine (Not my brand but one of the worlds most famous brands).
I decided to trade her machine in for one of mine (even tough her warrany had run out), loaded it in my car and drove across the country with it because she was fully booked for the whole week and could not wait any more for service and could not loose this amount of money again.
Turned out she was super happy with the trade and her new machine so she bought another one. Just shows how important good service is. The ROI is just insane.

What a great example you are setting for forum members.

@MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @ZCP what do you say, time to mark this thread at least notable?

 

[Kokaka]

What a great example you are setting for forum members.

@MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @ZCP what do you say, time to mark this thread at least notable?

Thanks alot BizyDad.
Crazy that this thread is almost a year old now and its fun to read back on it and see what has been going on. Hopefully this thread can also give some ideas to other entrepreneurs and help them grow aswell just as this forum has helped me grow.

 

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[Rossoneri]

What a great example you are setting for forum members.

@MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @ZCP what do you say, time to mark this thread at least notable?

Thanks alot BizyDad.
Crazy that this thread is almost a year old now and its fun to read back on it and see what has been going on. Hopefully this thread can also give some ideas to other entrepreneurs and help them grow aswell just as this forum has helped me grow.

Can't believe this thread is so underrated, still come back for its lessons ever since I saw it about a year ago. This guy is surely on the Fastlane. Honestly I'm at my lowest point after a winning streak and it looks like I'll have to restart. Seems like I'll be looking towards Kokaka's teachings once again

 

[Kokaka]

Can't believe this thread is so underrated, still come back for its lessons ever since I saw it about a year ago. This guy is surely on the Fastlane. Honestly I'm at my lowest point after a winning streak and it looks like I'll have to restart. Seems like I'll be looking towards Kokaka's teachings once again

Thanks.
I am happy that someone out there can get some inspiration .

If you have been going down after a winning streak, there should be a reason why on but the good and the bad. Try to analyze what you did well that led to the good results and also analyze what went wrong, be objective and honest. Try to formulate what you could have done different if you where in the same situation and simulate a few strategies for if it happen again. That way you will have a few ready plans in your back pocket if something similar happens again. Always good to pe proactive than reactive. The more strategies you have for previous and future events, both theoretical and potential the better prepared you will be.

Also Im happy to help in the DM.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update

Clinic company
Sold some more machines.
Upgraded one machine for a customer who destroyd hers from poor maintinance so warranty expired due to inability to proper maintain the machine. She was left with 2 alternatives. Send the machine to service to get it fixed, get sent a loan machine in the meantime. Would land on 5k. She could also trade in her broken machine for a new one, with full warranty etc. She chose the latter. Made 11k on this trade and she became super happy. Win-win for both.

My partner is on the lookout for an COO for the machine company so we both can focus on the clinic company because hes strenght is staff and economy, not product development, even though he does a good job. That way we optimize ourself. He has a contact that he is talking to which he says would be perfect for this job. However the contact has a good secure job for one of the worlds biggest company. It feels scary for him to jump ship to a small startup company so we will se what will happen. I hope we get a COO so we can focus just on one business, we are too spread out, even as 2 people focusing on 2 businesses and both him and me does a better job on the clinic company. A problem that needs solving.

Got a contract for a 3PL solution in our city with a new logistics company to get the consumable part up and running. I have told my partner I only need a place to store everything and we can start. Partner organise the on-site logistics, I focus on the products.
Also the owner of the logistics company is a "fastlane" person. He bought the company when it went bankrupt 1.5 years ago and now he is expanding too fast so all his storage space is rented out, except for the E-commerce. He does not have all that much experience with E-commecrce logistics but he is a person that solve problems. This is exactly what we need because we have no idea what we do either, however 3 good minds will be able to find a solution. I believe that this is better for us that we learn as we go than to work with a specialised E-commerce 3PL solution which has very specific rules you have to follow.

Also now that I dont have to run 2 businesses by myself, I have increased the marketing strategy to doubble the exposure through social media, now that logistics wise, we can handle more customers.

Clinic company.
It finally happend! Got the contract for Clinic nr 2 and Clinic nr 3. However, due to the war in Ukraine, all delevery times have doubbled. Clinic nr2 will be ready in November, Clinic nr 3 in December.
My partner does staff and have found good candidates in and around the new cities. We have also found the perfect Clinic Manager who we have hired as our 5th employee. What makes her fantactic is that next year or the year after, she wants to move back to her city. Thing is, its exactly where we want to open clinic nr4. So now, we just need some money in the bank and we have a clinic manager in clinic nr4 who can manage and train the new staff. I like to joke that we work as the "Green Berrets". We have 1 person who train a group and copy one persons skill into many. Force Multiplier in the world of beauty, body hair removal and toe nail painting baby!

I am also collecting alot of usefull data from my machine company customers and I copy them alot for my clinic company, (without they knowing ofcourse). From marketing campaigns, etc. Also one customer has given me a great Idea. She held a lecture infront of 19 doctors in her state of some precediours she does with mine machine. She got all doctors and the hospital as the customer. This got me thinking. I can do the same, but ramp it up to 11. I can work and tailor made treatments for endocrinology, sex-changes, urology and gereiatry. Probably more. I am a great salesman and even though I did not become a doctor, I speak their language. When I'm back home, I will contact all hospitals in my state, perfectly located where I have clinic 1,2 and 3 and sell my business to the hospitals, doctors etc. This in turn makes the brand better and future expansion easier. Because if I go to the next state and say "Hello, I work with all hospital in my state and they are super happy with the results, you should to". They will more likely accept. Also when it comes to the marketing, we can do something like "Hospital X, Y and Z is customers at our clinic". Better quality assurance does not exist.

We are also discussing Brazil more serious now. He has never been here so for him its very abstract. However he sees it as a way to diminish the risk and not just focus on the EU market. Then we have to fairly separated economies who will be the engine of the business.

So now, there are not much we can do before clinic 2 and 3 open. The clinic manager runs the clinic and makes sure everything runs smoothly. Maybe I work 30 minutes a week with this business now and it is steadily "printing money".

Other
In Brazil now because my son was born a few days ago. Everything went great. I love this country when even the doctors have high heels in the operating room. Beauty and style everytime, its hilarious.

Because of the extra month of "downtime", we can now focus on making everything a little bit better and not just making more money. Like a friend of mine teases me that I just expand and do stuff but my employees dont have name tags. Its a thing that takes 30 min but I still have not done it. I probably have hundreds of small details that have fallen behind because I focus more on expanding than doing everything perfect. Im a firm believer that "perfection is the enemy of good" but now I have some time to make the businesses better than they where.

On a side note. Now 4 years of chronic stress is over. First from medschool, then opening 2 business, selling a part to now everything is and I can slow down mentally. Stills fills from time to time my brains is accellerating even though it does not have to. I guess I need to learn to relax.

 

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[Rossoneri]

Thanks.
I am happy that someone out there can get some inspiration .

If you have been going down after a winning streak, there should be a reason why on but the good and the bad. Try to analyze what you did well that led to the good results and also analyze what went wrong, be objective and honest. Try to formulate what you could have done different if you where in the same situation and simulate a few strategies for if it happen again. That way you will have a few ready plans in your back pocket if something similar happens again. Always good to pe proactive than reactive. The more strategies you have for previous and future events, both theoretical and potential the better prepared you will be.

Also Im happy to help in the DM.

Thanks for the offer, the mistakes I made were obvious in hindsight and I was high on my success being straight out of high school. I relied on others way too much, creating a situation where I really didn't learn anything really, just rode the wave of luck by organizing people in a mediocre manner. Made some money but it collapsed and things were out of my control, I was not proactive in preventing this at all. The tide went out and I was swimming naked. This time I'm doing things different and really understanding my processes from day 1.

 

[capito]

In Brazil now because my son was born a few days ago. Everything went great.

Parabéns pelo nascimento de seu filho !

Your first post in this thread was powerful, and not only you have maintained the strength but in a short time you have been able to increase the power

... That or AC/DC and rock and roll

like AC/DC... and now you are dancing more than a rock and roll

 

[wyattnorton]

I was wondering how you saw this need in terms of the beauty clinic? You were attending university, have a military background, I am curious how this idea came about?

Also, once you saw this opportunity, how did you go about identifying the steps to take to put the beauty clinic into action?

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine Company:
Still in Brasil. Going home to EU next week.
Have had 2 meetings with 2 consultants.
1 to getting the concept to Brasil and gets accepted by the Brasilian customs ANVISA.
They are famous for being notorious hard and is protecting the Brazilian local economy like crazy.
However I am on the verge of cracking it.
Will cost about 5-10k to legalise everything and take 6 month (if Im lucky). So alot of beaurocraty but thanks to them, the ENTRY to Brazil is super high, and as the 2nd biggest economy for beauty, I would become a multi millionare fast if I can get a foothold here.

Also got the CPF, which is like a number you need here to open bank accounts and businesses. Foregneirs can only own 49% of my own business here so I have to split it somehow between my brasilian partner, european partner, myself and the future CEO of Brasil.

I also have a big deal pending where 3 doctors wants us to build their clinic for them. If we can come to an agreement. We dont need to think about money short term anymore.

Also has hired an account manager for the machine company. She is made for being a beauty machine account manager so this was jackpot. Hopefully sales will increase alot where we have one to soley focus on sales, and not like a part time job split between 2 business owners.

Clinic company.
Did training with some new staff in some treatments. Covid has made everything super easy to do remote. Like Im on the other side of the world, training people. No problems!

July has also been the first time ever of the history of the Clinic Company where it has not been fully booked. Only 50% booked the whole month.
Did some research in my city and there are noone there. Everyone is traveling. So all service based businesses has had a major drop. We are happy that we have been 50% booked.
However the last 24 hours we have had 20+ new bookings, so it is filling up nicely again. Need to use this data for next year.

Other:
I have noticed that it has been more difficult than I thought to run 2 businesses on the other side of the world, with a 5 hour time difference and a newborn son. It would not be a problem with eaither 5 hour time difference or diaper changes in the middle of the night. However both is a little much. Lucely everyone back home is on vacation so I cant work any anyhow.
This however is fantastic to learn how to break TIME. I am building and starting to thing more about systems to make it possible to only work 1 hour max every day to maintain the businesses, the rest of the time can be used too develop and expand. A little difficult from time to time and work is not optimal. However it put my head in a nice trajectory to develop future strategies when I have experiences to draw inspirations from.

Also the business has now grown from 2 people to 10 in 12 month and 20 days

Thanks for the offer, the mistakes I made were obvious in hindsight and I was high on my success being straight out of high school. I relied on others way too much, creating a situation where I really didn't learn anything really, just rode the wave of luck by organizing people in a mediocre manner. Made some money but it collapsed and things were out of my control, I was not proactive in preventing this at all. The tide went out and I was swimming naked. This time I'm doing things different and really understanding my processes from day 1.

This is just what where about to happend to me. Success out of the gate, didnt know what to do, had a time where nothing happend while everything was out of controll. Took about 6 month and an experienced partner to fix all this.

However you have been down this road, and the things you learnt to do but more importanly, what not to, no one can take away from you.
I also belive there are no such sings as luck. You identified a need and capilised on it. You can do it again, just better next time.

Parabéns pelo nascimento de seu filho !

Your first post in this thread was powerful, and not only you have maintained the strength but in a short time you have been able to increase the power

like AC/DC... and now you are dancing more than a rock and roll

Muito obrigado
I found the beginning was the easy part. Mainting it to give you time, energy and brainpower to expand untill you can pay people to make problem go away was the hard part. Took a while but I think I finally arrived

I was wondering how you saw this need in terms of the beauty clinic? You were attending university, have a military background, I am curious how this idea came about?

Also, once you saw this opportunity, how did you go about identifying the steps to take to put the beauty clinic into action?

Its a funny story. Like my backgrouund is blowing up bombs in the military and being a DJ in Ibiza. Not exactly the archetype for the beauty business (thats why it works).
Anyway.
When I was in the military, I realised that I could not do this for the rest of my life. I was a grund with no plan of applying to officer school. I knew this was just a transportation time for me until I found something else, but having fun doing it like diving, skiing in glaciers etc.
Anyway, at the end of my career, I was kinda fed up with the more extreme things and applied for centry duty at a amall army base in the middle of nowhere. This was fantastic. The group just waited for 2-3 cars of the day to pass so we could check the ID. The rest ot the time, we just waited.
This was fantastic because now I had pretty much unlimited time and a salary that could pay my bills.
I started to check of things to do, then I found the University. I thought: "Well everyone who wants to be somewhere needs to study and get a degree". I checked out Social science, Sports science, Psychology, Law and Medicine.
During this research, when I checked out various specialities in medicine, I searched for Dermathology and Plastic surgety on youtube. I was instantly hooked. This was like the coolest thing ever. I could spend hours upon hours in the army base looking at surgeries. It was decided. I was supposed to become a doctor in the beauty industry.
I think I had alot of attraction to the field because all my life I have been creative. Drawing, painting, sculpting etc. So I thought this was just changing canvas to people.
Problem was, I was a high school drop out. My grades was in the gutter, didnt know math and something had to be done about this. Well, no time to be depressed I thought. I researched what needed to be done.
About 18 month extra biology, physics, chemistry and math studies, and being in the top 2% percent of the international test to get into university.
Well now I was obcessed because I didnt want to be in the military anymore.
I studied like a madman. First I studied how to study and made a plan from what I learned. Then it was 12-16 hours every day, 6 days a week.
Took me 10 weeks to clear all the science and math studies, another 8 month to be in the top 2% of the uni test.
Got accepted to one of the best medschools in the country.
During this time I met my partner, and she was a Brasilian beautician. Funny thing is. Brazil is like 10 years more advanced than the EU when it comes to beauty treatments. And I thought. "Well you can be the richest one of us two if you implement what you know in the EU. Supply vs Demand, and it was basicly 0 supply".
Then I thought I wanted to open a clinic, and we could work together.
Like the first day at med-school when people ask each other what they want to do, everyone said they wanted to be a cardiologist, a pediatrian etc. I told everyone straight up I wanted to own an advanced beauty clinic somewhere where it existed palm trees. I remember everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of extra terrestial.
Studied a bit, everything went to shit. Turned out the uni have about 60-70% fail rate of each tests and you only have one test period per semester of 6 month. So I failed and failed again, got burnt out and got on welfare. Suceeded, studied some more, failed again and the rest is history. This story basicly ends where the first post begin.

So yeah. I have been interested in this field for a long time, and has had it as my goal for over 5 years.
Then I pretty much broke the whole beauty industry when it comes to everything. From marketing, services, staff, international trade and relations. So Im Pioneering something that does not exist anywhere in the world. Explosive start and year one. Year two has basicly been building structure and preparing for year three.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update.
So everything was going exceptionally well. Hired a full time seller for the machine company, and had total of 4 staff in the clinic company. So from 0 to 5 staff in just over 1 year.
Then a perfect storm happend.
The market crashed due to the war in Ukraine, energy prices in europe and inflation. People now has less money than before so people spend less. Has not have any more sale since july with the machine company and booking is down almost 40%.
Then I got an unknown tax bomb of 75k divided between the 2 companies. Just before this, we thought things was well so we orderd a 25k stock to be used between the companies. So yeah, lesson learned. Controll first because this was not that fun.

However, there are some good news in all this. Luckely, we did not have to open clinic 2 and clinic 3. If we did, it would be disasterous.
As is now, we have an overpaid stock of like 6-700k market value of already payed equipnet to sell or use in future clinics. However the machine company has little funds left but the hughe stock.
This could and should have been avoided with better retroactive controll. Now we have great controll but its just a mess that has had to be resolved from the year prior that led to all theese taxes. Sucks, but now we know and I have learned a ton. The more you make, the costlier your mistakes will be.

Also positive is that the clinic company is doing its best quarter by far. Reason is that we have increased our prices because we have been too cheap. About 30-40% cheaper than some clinics in some neighbouring states. I also noticed a problem with our pricing model. We had discount upon discount so some services was way to cheap. The price increase had led to a drop in customer but more turnover and less cost (in staff, taxes, electricity, products etc.).

So now we are in a bit problematic spot. A ton of stock but no one to buy them and nowhere to put them to use and little funds. We probably have to do some trimming to cut costs and wait out the winter and dig in.

If we look long term however, it would not surprise me if this is the best thing that could have happend to the clinic company (the one I an certain will be the big value maker). Why? Because we are making our best quarter in the midsts of a crisis. We have also learned more about pricing strategies but most how big a clinic has to be. Before when we had week long ques and we where open from 08:00 to 21:00 6 days a week, we thought we would need 5 rooms and like 8 staff because the data indicated this. Now we know it is better to streamline the operation and just have 3 rooms with 3-4 staff. This will save a ton of unneccecary spending.
It is also alot of clinic companies that is going bankrupt like crazy and when the winter is over and everyone is happy, we can just grab AAA places for free and put our stock to use, because as is, we can open 2-3 more clinics for free because they have been mostly paid for, and then generate 10-20k profit month/clinic.

I am also thinking about going back to the university and do 1 more semester of Med-School.
Why? Because if nothing will happen and we cant grow for 6 month because wee need to build more cash flow, I need to do something to support myself because I dont want to take out any salary. Better to reinvest the money into assets of the business.
In my country you recieve money to study so its a better alternative than to work most of the time anyway.
I also became quite stressed when I realised how vulrneable you are without anything to fall back on during a crisis, or when business is bad.
Then the more I have worked as an entrepreneur, the more I have seen how usefull the medschool has been to this area of expertice. I have been thinking of changing to business and finance because its easier and shorter, but I learn that by doing what I do anyway, and I have fallen in love with the beauty industry and combining medicine with business.

So yeah. Now just wait for better times, build cashflow. Wait for other clinics to fail and take over.
There is also something called lipstick index that indicate this area is very recession proof. Also historicly, if we look at the financial crisis of 08, beauty was super robust so the outlook looks good, regardless of mistakes, war and other things.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update:

Machine company:
Had to let the account manager go because of no sales since summer.
Might have a nice sale pending though if the customer sign her contract. Been waiting 4 weeks for this. She says she will sign and is super possitive but have alot on her mind now. This money will make the machine company healthy again.
Lets cross our fingers but as is, we have more or less dieted down all costs and wait for better times.

Clinic company:
However, its good news with the clinic company!
It seems my theories has held and now, there are so many clinics just to take over for free. And even though we have no money, we have a big stock thats paid for.


We have now gotten a contract that is too good to be true now which we will sign today!
Fully mounted clinic. Only thing we need is some new paint on the wall.
Got 100% discount on the rent for the first 3 month. Then 50% discount for 3 month and then 25% discount for 3 month.
The landlord will pay the labour fee for painters and electricians. We just pay the material (save us 5-10k).
Also there is no down payment! We just get the contract risk free.
Rent is also brutally cheap and its located at a AAA location.
However due to low liquidity, even though we make a good profit (invested to heavily with too little controll), we had to take a small loan of 25k. However the conditions are great and just 20% personal liability split between 3 people.

Just to compare. The place we was trying to build during the summer (just next door) would cost 360k to fix up which would doubble the rent from what we will pay now.
I calculated that we would save 180k in rent per 5 year period with this new clinic. Easiest 180k saved ever!.

Also because I own all the equipment in the machine company, the monthly costs will be next to nothing. Only salaries, where taxes is subsidised for 24 month due to opening a new business (save 50k in 24 month), rent and marketing which will be split between clinic nr1 and clinic nr2. So we can finally start to make some profit and get the snowball rolling. There are alot of nice premade clinics for the taking and desperate landlords now which can give us real nice contracts out there now.

The current clinic is also on fire, even midst of a crisis and we have more traffic than ever!

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine company:
The custumer i wrote above finally signed her contract. Got the sale!
Also my leasing partner had apparently 20k more they had to pay us due to a trade in in march last year but the customer forgot to sign her contract. Thought it would only be like 5k so 15k extra in the coffers is welcome.
Also have alot of potentials sales now, upwards of a profit of 150k if everyone buys. People are scared now however, and 2 of my former customers has gone bankrupt. Not fun for them when they lease machines upwards of 40k and we have enterd into a crisis winter due to geopolitical reasons.

All this however means liquidity is saved. Have about 50k now in liquidity and very little costs because everything is dieted down. Just salary to feed myself 2k, marketing 1k, storage, logistics and other 1k, so am safe for a year if nothing happens.

Clinic company.
So contract has been signed for clinic nr2 and we open 1 of march.
Currently on a train across the country to look at some wallpapers at a studio which deals in luxury producs from Paris.
Will make this the best looking and most luxurious clinic in the country. There is a reason for this. It is not to still my ego. It is because all I invest into making the clinic look nice will be used in marketing and brand building because we will market the clinic on social media. When people see the pictures, they will think "wow, this clinic looks insane. I have never seen anything like this. They must be super good. I want to go!"

I have also calculated that we have about 300 treatments per room. If I make a super nice clinic I can increase the prices by 10usd.
This will yeald 3k more month or 36k more a year.
And I will now own 5 rooms with the possibilty of building 2 more in clinic nr 2 if needs be.
Good ROI on some expensive wallpapers, some designer lamps, decent furniture and some paintings.

My mentor who owned all of the mcDonalds in my state told me a good formula which they work with: QES, Quality, enviroment, service.
We are currently the best in Quality, we try our best with service and now we will be the best with enviroment, and in the mentime, offer a better experience for the customer, more value and more money for us at the end of the month.

It also help that we have all the staff we need foe clinic nr 2. I can open with 1.5 staff that has all bwen fully trained in clinic nr1. Takes about 12 month to become good with the stuff we do because its only we who do it.
There is a way around this and that is to import expertice from Brazil, who is more advanced. (They study 4 years at a university to do this, here its 18 month non university studies)
I am in the middle of trying to legalise a brasilian specialist but the migration takes forever.
Hopwfully she can come sometimes during the summer. Will help alot with training new staff so we can scale.

I have also got a proposition to open clinic nr3.
This is located in a very wealthy city where competitor prices is 20% than what we offer now.
Fully mounted clinic for free, great contract and great location. Also cheap rent.

My idea now is to try to fill clinic nr2 as fast as possibly. (Marketing campaign will come up on monday). As soon as clinic nr 2 is healthy, I snag clinic nr 3.
I own all machibes and for clinic nr 2, I have orderd alot in bulk, so clinic nr 3 will be cheaoer than clinic nr2 which is to begin with, super cheap to mount.
There is also alot of weaker clinics and salons going bankrupt now everywhere so it seems we get a bigger market share, even though the potential customer has less money. Seems my therories is still holding up.

Also on a sidenote. Funny how it works if you offer quality and value. I have had 4 doctors who have contacted me and want to do a coorperations. 3 facial surgeons and 1 Dermathologist. Seems its way easier to hire doctors than to become on yourself.

Summary of year 2:

This year has been a ride, (and I thought year1 was one).
This one really kicked my a$$ but I think I ended up stronger, more experienced and in a better place than I coud have been.

After the summer, I got in a runt, got on antidepressants and was not in a good mood.
Reasons was the perfect storm I described in an earlier post. Had 2 lucrative businesses but almost no liquidity. Machine company was down to 1k at one point, clinic was in the red. Had a newborn son and no money.
Solved this by excercicing like a madman, cleaned up my diet, got in shape which led me to come of the antidepressants and now I feel good again.

(This actually did remind me of a post I red here on the forum. Some guy saved up 200k, bought a couple of businesses. During year 2 he was almost bankrupt and he wrote in his post "Theese was dark times". However, he persevered and then made 200k profit year from his businesses. I repeated this in my mind on the low days and it helped. There is always light at the end of the tunnel).

Also now during year 2, we have prepared everything for year 3. Everything is in controll and it will be easy to grow and scale from here.
Both me and my partner have become obsessed with CONTROLL since we do not want to end up where we were. Now we finally check all thw boxes in CENTS.

Verdict year 2:
Got my financial statement from my accountant:
Holding company: 60k profit tax free
Clinic Company: 30k profit tax free
Machine company: 30k profit taxable.

Liquidity
Machine company: 50k
Clinic nr1: 20k
Clinic nr2: 25k

Paid stock
150k

My accountant did some of his magic to make us pay as little taxes as we could and get as much tax free profit as we could and private cash flow.
He seemed very proud and happy about his work and I am sure he did a good job. Maybie it helps because the clinic and machine company work close together so he can play with the numbers.
Will read the financial statements and try to understand them because book keeping is something I need to learn and understand.

Looking forward to year 3. The businesses are maturing and the groing pains is going away.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine company:
The custumer i wrote above finally signed her contract. Got the sale!
Also my leasing partner had apparently 20k more they had to pay us due to a trade in in march last year but the customer forgot to sign her contract. Thought it would only be like 5k so 15k extra in the coffers is welcome.
Also have alot of potentials sales now, upwards of a profit of 150k if everyone buys. People are scared now however, and 2 of my former customers has gone bankrupt. Not fun for them when they lease machines upwards of 40k and we have enterd into a crisis winter due to geopolitical reasons.

All this however means liquidity is saved. Have about 50k now in liquidity and very little costs because everything is dieted down. Just salary to feed myself 2k, marketing 1k, storage, logistics and other 1k, so am safe for a year if nothing happens.

Clinic company.
So contract has been signed for clinic nr2 and we open 1 of march.
Currently on a train across the country to look at some wallpapers at a studio which deals in luxury producs from Paris.
Will make this the best looking and most luxurious clinic in the country. There is a reason for this. It is not to still my ego. It is because all I invest into making the clinic look nice will be used in marketing and brand building because we will market the clinic on social media. When people see the pictures, they will think "wow, this clinic looks insane. I have never seen anything like this. They must be super good. I want to go!"

I have also calculated that we have about 300 treatments per room. If I make a super nice clinic I can increase the prices by 10usd.
This will yeald 3k more month or 36k more a year.
And I will now own 5 rooms with the possibilty of building 2 more in clinic nr 2 if needs be.
Good ROI on some expensive wallpapers, some designer lamps, decent furniture and some paintings.

My mentor who owned all of the mcDonalds in my state told me a good formula which they work with: QES, Quality, enviroment, service.
We are currently the best in Quality, we try our best with service and now we will be the best with enviroment, and in the mentime, offer a better experience for the customer, more value and more money for us at the end of the month.

It also help that we have all the staff we need foe clinic nr 2. I can open with 1.5 staff that has all bwen fully trained in clinic nr1. Takes about 12 month to become good with the stuff we do because its only we who do it.
There is a way around this and that is to import expertice from Brazil, who is more advanced. (They study 4 years at a university to do this, here its 18 month non university studies)
I am in the middle of trying to legalise a brasilian specialist but the migration takes forever.
Hopwfully she can come sometimes during the summer. Will help alot with training new staff so we can scale.

I have also got a proposition to open clinic nr3.
This is located in a very wealthy city where competitor prices is 20% than what we offer now.
Fully mounted clinic for free, great contract and great location. Also cheap rent.

My idea now is to try to fill clinic nr2 as fast as possibly. (Marketing campaign will come up on monday). As soon as clinic nr 2 is healthy, I snag clinic nr 3.
I own all machibes and for clinic nr 2, I have orderd alot in bulk, so clinic nr 3 will be cheaoer than clinic nr2 which is to begin with, super cheap to mount.
There is also alot of weaker clinics and salons going bankrupt now everywhere so it seems we get a bigger market share, even though the potential customer has less money. Seems my therories is still holding up.

Also on a sidenote. Funny how it works if you offer quality and value. I have had 4 doctors who have contacted me and want to do a coorperations. 3 facial surgeons and 1 Dermathologist. Seems its way easier to hire doctors than to become on yourself.

Summary of year 2:

This year has been a ride, (and I thought year1 was one).
This one really kicked my a$$ but I think I ended up stronger, more experienced and in a better place than I coud have been.

After the summer, I got in a runt, got on antidepressants and was not in a good mood.
Reasons was the perfect storm I described in an earlier post. Had 2 lucrative businesses but almost no liquidity. Machine company was down to 1k at one point, clinic was in the red. Had a newborn son and no money.
Solved this by excercicing like a madman, cleaned up my diet, got in shape which led me to come of the antidepressants and now I feel good again.

(This actually did remind me of a post I red here on the forum. Some guy saved up 200k, bought a couple of businesses. During year 2 he was almost bankrupt and he wrote in his post "Theese was dark times". However, he persevered and then made 200k profit year from his businesses. I repeated this in my mind on the low days and it helped. There is always light at the end of the tunnel).

Also now during year 2, we have prepared everything for year 3. Everything is in controll and it will be easy to grow and scale from here.
Both me and my partner have become obsessed with CONTROLL since we do not want to end up where we were. Now we finally check all thw boxes in CENTS.

Verdict year 2:
Got my financial statement from my accountant:
Holding company: 60k profit tax free
Clinic Company: 30k profit tax free
Machine company: 30k profit taxable.

Liquidity
Machine company: 50k
Clinic nr1: 20k
Clinic nr2: 25k

Paid stock
150k

My accountant did some of his magic to make us pay as little taxes as we could and get as much tax free profit as we could and private cash flow.
He seemed very proud and happy about his work and I am sure he did a good job. Maybie it helps because the clinic and machine company work close together so he can play with the numbers.
Will read the financial statements and try to understand them because book keeping is something I need to learn and understand.

Looking forward to year 3. The businesses are maturing and the groing pains is going away.

 

[Kokaka]

Double post.

 

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[FluidWater]

So yeah. I have been interested in this field for a long time, and has had it as my goal for over 5 years.
Then I pretty much broke the whole beauty industry when it comes to everything. From marketing, services, staff, international trade and relations. So Im Pioneering something that does not exist anywhere in the world. Explosive start and year one. Year two has basicly been building structure and preparing for year three.

Great thread!

This really shows that wealth is a process not an event

 

[Kokaka]

Random update.
Machine company:

The customer who wanted to buy the machine in the end of december was being very difficult. After she signed a binding document with the bank who do the leasing, she decided to change her mind just before the machine was to arrive (about working 15 days aftercontract signing). She wanted to promt cancel the deal. Well, it is not that simple when we are 3 parties (her, us and the bank) who have written a binding legal contract.
We got no help from the bank in solving this issue so we had to solve it outself. Luckely, after 3 month of persuation and education, she accepted the machine and we can get our money. The leasing company only pay us after the arrival of the machine so between a customer sign a leasing contract and we deliver the machine, we have to put quite alot of money up. Difficult when we have been low on liquidity.
However, she finally realised that if she was to refuse delivery, we and the bank would sue her and the total cost for her would be higher than the machine and she would have no way of making her investment back. Luckely we solved this but it has been draining.

On a possitive note, a new customer called like a few weeks back and just told me "Hi, I want to buy theese 2 machines for 42k. Send them to me ASAP". Very nice random event with togehter with the above sale, have saved the liquidity and stability of the machine business and also made that we can start to take dividend from the company.

But on the best note, I have now localised stock, service and maintinence to my home town. Now I fullfill the Controll aspect, and also togehter with Economic controll. This business is now complete and can just be a ticking money making machine with little time and energy investment.

Clinic Company.

Clinic nr2 has exceeded expectations. Been open for 1 month now and we have already had a turnover of 13k with a fixed cost of 6k. Only one staff so far but next week another girl will begin and hopefully we can raise the profit even more.
The more units we make, the fixed costs will be exponentially less, like the owner salary, consultant fees, marketing fees etc.

My theory of building a nice looking interior (bringing value) has payd off. In all reviews of the clinics, everyone is writning it looks really nice and wants to come back. In the future, I want to use this interior in my marketing to sho people "look at us how nice we are. Everyone else is just white walls, ceiling, furniture and are boring". Best 3k spent ever!

We have also started a cooperation with a Dermathologist (skin doctor) who will work in both clinics which are just 40 minutes apart but 2 separate cities. She will work on percentages and as such, she will be totally free and only make us money 100% of the time she work.

Now we will wait a little to expand untill after summer to open clinic nr3 and nr4 because we dont have the funds or the energy for it, but timing wise, July and August is bad month and we want to give the business the best possible start.
There are alot of vacancies so it will be easy to expand when the time is right.

Summary:

Very happy with the machine company and all the growing pains are gone.

The clinic expansion really kicked my a$$. I had to take care of my 9 month son Monday-Friday while running 2 businesses and opening a 3rd. This was not easy because I tried to be the best entrepreneur, business partner and father all at the same time but being good at neither and all sufferd. Maybie its more in my head because so far, the businesses looks really good and my son seems to enjoy going places with me in the car and going to meetings. I joke that in 2-3 years time he can run the businesses and I go on vacation.
Got really active with the Muay Thai again but reinjured an old shoulder injury so that was a bummer. But atleast Im back to my old self and go to the gym early while everyone is asleep and the day has not started. Really, really helps in keeping the head in the right place.

Now however, things will start to slow down. We have all the staff we need, everyone is trained except for the doctor. I will train her next week. (Funny that a failing med-student is training specialist doctors in treatments).

First will take my family in in 2 weeks time for a vacation abroad and then I can relax untill end of august because now its just a self playing piano and wait for it to grow.
1 of 2 things will happen after this. If the business is slow, I will return to the uni and do 1 more semester of my studies. This businesses has really opend my eyes for medicine (I would never have guessed this 2 years ago) and I would very much like to become a doctor. If the business is booming, I will open 2 more clinics between august-december.
I also got an offer to expand to India. A doctor (who is also a businessman) at the university hospital has seen this oppurtunity and wants to invest. The market seems really nice and open so this can be a good oppurtunity and he has money to invest.
This is intresting, especially now that I have solved the custom issue so now I can open everywhere in the world. Be it India or Brazil.

 

[BizyDad]

What a great example you are setting for forum members.

@MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @ZCP what do you say, time to mark this thread at least notable?

I'm on a mission to get others to notice this thread. I may have totally abused the new gold button, but if this thread isn't worth it, I don't know what is.

Maybe with a higher power score it'll get marked and more people will come on here and learn from what you are doing. You've had highs, lows, overcome problems and adversity. This thread may not be a step by step action plan, but it sure read like an inspiration. I'm glad to have been watching it from the beginning. This thread is better than Netflix.

Keep Going @Kokaka !

 

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[Andy Black]

Goodness me. I've never even seen this thread and never got notified when tagged.

Upgraded to Noteable at least. Will have to read through in detail.

 

[Kokaka]

Great thread!

This really shows that wealth is a process not an event

Thanks. Yeah its a grind to say the least.
I think people get caught up in trying to get easy money. You read all the time about overnight millionares but in reality, its like winning the lottery or getting rich of stocks/bitcoin. Some few who get all the attention suceed fast. But the bulk of people need to grind year after year before they reach wealth.

I'm on a mission to get others to notice this thread. I may have totally abused the new gold button, but if this thread isn't worth it, I don't know what is.

Maybe with a higher power score it'll get marked and more people will come on here and learn from what you are doing. You've had highs, lows, overcome problems and adversity. This thread may not be a step by step action plan, but it sure read like an inspiration. I'm glad to have been watching it from the beginning. This thread is better than Netflix.

Keep Going @Kokaka !

Thanks. Yeah its been a ride to say the least. For me, this is just normal but looking as an outsider into the process, It can seem abit crazy.

Yes this thread is not a step by step. However I like to share the progress along with some tips and ideas along the way. Its also fun to look back into because its easy forget where everything came from and the path it has taken.
I am open for questions though and will try my best to share what I have learnt with the members of this forum.

Goodness me. I've never even seen this thread and never got notified when tagged.

Upgraded to Noteable at least. Will have to read through in detail.

Thanks. Hope you enjoy the read